This study assessed the viability of glucocorticoid receptor agonist (GRA) treatment as an alternative to in-feed antibiotics (ANT) in wean-to-finish pigs. A total of 209 piglets were assigned to eight treatments based on a factorial arrangement, with GRA (+ vs. −; dexamethasone, 0.2 mg/kg body weight, BW), ANT (+ vs. −; 110 mg/kg in-feed Tylosin) and sex (gilt vs. barrow) as the main factors. The serial slaughter technique and serial blood collection were performed on 115 pigs during the first week post-weaning to collect blood, tissue and ileal digesta samples. Fecal samples were collected to determine energy digestibility. In comparison to ANT, GRA more effectively improved the measures of systemic inflammation, protein utilization and recovery-associated biomarkers (p ≤ 0.05). Relative to the control group, GRA treatment improved (p ≤ 0.03) dietary nutrient digestibility relative to control pigs, which was comparable to ANT effects. Relative to the control group, all groups had a higher ADG and BW during the starter phase (p < 0.01). Similar to the ANT group, GRA improved the gain-to-feed ratio relative to the control group during the starter phase. Relative to control pigs, overall BW was higher in GRA and ANT pigs during the grow-to-finish phase (p < 0.01). Collectively, these results suggest that GRA injection improves the growth performance of newly weaned pigs by reducing weaning-induced inflammation and improving nutrient digestibility. GRA can be used as an alternative to in-feed ANT to mitigate the effects of weaning stress on pigs.

中文翻译：

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糖皮质激素受体激动剂（GRA）对早期断奶猪的免疫功能，营养消化率和断奶至成年生长性能的影响。

这项研究评估了糖皮质激素受体激动剂（GRA）在断奶至成年猪中替代饲料中抗生素（ANT）的可行性。根据因子安排，共将209头仔猪分配到8种处理中，GRA（+ vs .;地塞米松，0.2 mg / kg体重，BW），ANT（+ vs.-; 110 mg / kg饲料中）泰乐菌素）和性别（烫金vs.鲍磊）是主要因素。在断奶后的第一周对115头猪进行了系列屠宰技术和系列血液采集，以采集血液，组织和回肠消化液样品。收集粪便样品以确定能量消化率。与ANT相比，GRA更有效地改善了系统性炎症，蛋白质利用和恢复相关生物标志物（p≤0.05）。相对于对照组，治疗GRA改善（p ≤0.03）相对于对照的猪，其比得上ANT影响膳食营养物质的消化率。相对于对照组，在开始阶段，所有组的ADG和BW均较高（p <0.01）。与ANT组相似，在启动阶段，GRA相对于对照组提高了进料比。相对于对照猪，在生长到完成阶段，GRA和ANT猪的总体体重较高（p<0.01）。总的来说，这些结果表明，GRA注射通过减少断奶引起的炎症和改善养分消化率而改善了新断奶猪的生长性能。GRA可以用作饲喂ANT的替代品，以减轻断奶应激对猪的影响。